Sad and unexplainable things do happen... take these for example.
An apparently disturbed worker was mauled to death by three tigers at the Singapore Zoo on Thursday when he deliberately jumped into their enclosure, the zoo said. The white tigers pounced on the 32-year-old contract cleaner after he jumped into the moat surrounding their enclosure and then moved toward the animals, the zoo said in a statement.
The zoo, one of Singapore's most prominent tourist attractions, described the victim as "apparently disturbed and agitated". Fellow workers reported that he "was acting a little bit erratic and odd, throwing papers around" before the incident, assistant director of zoology Biswajit Guha told Singapore's 938Live radio.
Guha said the cleaner worked at the chimpanzee area and was on his lunch break when the tragedy occurred. "Goodbye, I won't be seeing you again," Guha quoted the victim as telling one of the zookeepers. "And they saw him riding off on a bicycle and coming back in through the front entrance again, and then about five minutes later, the whole alert came on the walkie talkie," he said.
Horrified visitors screamed as zookeepers rushed into the tiger enclosure to try to rescue the victim. They threw rocks to try to distract the animals, which dragged their victim toward a passageway, said Guha. Zoo workers finally succeeded in luring the tigers away from the man and confining them to their pens, but paramedics later pronounced him dead.
Sigh, this is truly saddening... people going depressed and ending their own lives all of a sudden. And this guy chose to end his life by allowing himself to be mauled by the only white tigers in Singapore. Very strange and frightening way to die. Could have been worse if he had encountered alligators or sharks...
And here's another one...
A teenage boy who many believe is the reincarnation of Buddha has re-emerged from the jungle in southern Nepal, attracting thousands of devotees, officials said Tuesday.
After retreating into the jungle for more than a year, Ram Bahadur Bamjan, 18, re-emerged Monday near Nijgadh town, about 100 miles (160 kilometers) south of the capital, Katmandu.
Upon hearing the news, thousands of Bamjan's followers, some from as far away as India, traveled to the site Tuesday to see him, police official Abhaya Joshi said by telephone.
There has been no formal declaration by Buddhist authorities that Bamjan is the reincarnation of the Buddha. But people have worshipped the teenager since he was first seen in 2005 meditating in the jungle, where he sat for months, motionless with his eyes closed among the roots of a tree.
Joshi said Bamjan plans to talk to his followers for a few hours every day for a week before returning to the jungle to meditate. The long-haired Bamjan, dressed in a white cloth, appeared to be in good health as he spoke to his followers about peace and ending discrimination, according to the Rajdhani newspaper.
"It was an amazing experience to hear and see him. I have no doubt now he is the reincarnation of Buddha," said Sangeeta Lama, a woman who met Bamjan for the first time.
Buddhist priests have been divided on whether the boy is truly the reincarnation of Siddhartha Gautama, who was born in southwestern Nepal around 500 B.C. and later became revered as the Buddha, which means Enlightened One.
Buddhists strongly believe in reincarnation, the doctrine that every soul reappears after death in another bodily form.
Min Bahadur Shakya of the Nagarjuna Institute of Exact Methods in Katmandu said Buddhist priests have not reached a conclusion about Bamjan because they have not been able to fully investigate the boy. "Meditating without food does not prove that he is reincarnation of Buddha. There is much study needed to be done," Shakya said.
Buddhism is practiced by about 325 million followers, mostly in Asia.
I find this truly odd and puzzling. A reincarnation of Buddha??? How can that be!!! I mean, I know that Siddharta Gautama Buddha is believed to be an avatar of the god Vishnu, but how is it even possible for Buddha to be reincarnated when he had already entered enlightenment?? Isn't Nirvana meant to be a release from the bhavachakra, Saṃsāra, karma and rebirth as well as the dissolution of all worldly physical and mental aggregates or skandhas? :-/
Indeed the affairs of this world are going out of control...
4 comments:
Everyone can be a buddha. It is the true nature of man. It is the knowing and understanding that everything is interconnected with you and everyone else. It is to know the elements of the world are all part of you.
Siddharta Gautama Buddha has since escape the world of rebirth. While his body cease to exist, he is still here with us. He is now part of the winds, the clouds, the trees and everything you can lay your hands on. He is like a salt in the water, dissolved and have disappeared with water itself.
Hmmm, what I meant was that I found it quite hard to believe that Buddha could be reincarnated as a human being. But you do have a point there. The part on Gautama Buddha still here with us is quite similar to the Holy Spirit being among the Christians, and God the Father being all-seeing (like having 'many eyes'). There's also been reports on boys or even girls rumored to be the reincarnation of Jesus Christ, which incurred the wrath of Catholic priests. It's up to us whether to believe these reports or not.
The part on 'everything is interconnected with you and everyone else' is something like us being part of The Force (according to Star Wars). :-p
If you take out the label of "Buddha", "God", "Force" or wadever, then u can see that everything is pointing to the same thing.
Rather than saying that Buddha have been reincarnated as a human being, try and put it that a human being is in touch with his true nature and has got enlightened. He see himself as part of everything and so has become one with all that is.
When ur right hand whose name is Buddha awaken and see that he is part of a body, tat child will be like the left hand who has awaken n see that he is part of the body as well.
It is in this sense that ppl confuse with the reincarnation of the Buddha.
Thanks for 'enlightening' me, Ice. I know that Gautama Buddha isn't the only Buddha around... just that I wasnt aware that all religions (or at least some) point to the same perspective
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